As part of its strategic initiative to increase quality and patient-centric care, KishHealth System has chosen to implement the PerfectServe clinical communications platform across two of its facilities in northern Illinois. Slated to go live in June, PerfectServe will enable Kishwaukee and Valley West Community Hospitals to eliminate costly and time-consuming bottlenecks and delays and increase direct communications among physicians and nurses to improve patient care.

KishHealth began attacking its clinician-to-clinician communication challenge three years ago when hospital leadership adopted a LEAN methodology. In an analysis of its discharge process, KishHealth identified the opportunity to reduce delays caused by communication challenges among clinicians around each patient’s episode of care.

“Specialists often need to consult with primary care physicians and vice versa, but in today’s complex healthcare environment, it’s not always easy for clinicians to reach each other in a timely manner — and it was clear the process we had in place wasn’t working,” said Dr. Michael Kulisz, chief medical officer, KishHealth. “We saw an immediate need to address the communications issue, not only from a hospital efficiency and clinician satisfaction standpoint, but also as a key strategy for improving overall care quality.”

After a review by the health system’s quality cabinet, consisting of a range of multi-specialty clinicians, KishHealth identified PerfectServe as the only system that would standardize its communications processes while allowing clinicians to set preferences for how they want to be reached. Unlike paging systems, call centers and answering services, PerfectServe ensures the secure and accurate delivery of all voice, web-based text and page messages to the right physician or nurse based on practice workflow rules, call schedules and individual clinician-defined contact preferences.

“While other vendors claim to offer a solution to different parts of the process — texting, phone or paging — PerfectServe has enabled us to take a strategic, holistic approach to all our clinical communications,” said Heath Bell, CEO, KishHealth System. “PerfectServe will play a key role in our ability to maintain high physician and patient satisfaction rates, deliver timely, quality care, and, as our network of care continues to expand, ultimately position KishHealth for success around future population health initiatives.”

Key benefits of the PerfectServe platform for KishHealth included:

— Increased clinician satisfaction

— The platform’s rules-based engine enables more accurate and reliable communication processes that make it easy for clinicians to connect with each other more quickly. Physicians can set individual communication preferences and adjust them on the fly;

— Secure communications across any mode or device

— Whether texting or emailing from any device, PerfectServe maintains HIPAA-compliance across all forms of communications; — Support for quality and patient-centric initiatives

“The current state of clinician-to-clinician communications is a cumbersome and costly issue for many health systems, and one that is often overlooked — but KishHealth has recognized the significant impact it has on a range of patient safety and satisfaction initiatives across its system,” said Terry Edwards, PerfectServe president and CEO. “By empowering clinicians to more easily connect around any patient’s course of treatment, PerfectServe will support KishHealth’s ongoing success in delivering high quality care.”

Press Relations Contact

River Cities has taken the time to thoroughly understand our industry and our competition and their strategies through independent research. This research has been of tremendous value and has positively affected our strategies.

— Archie Black, CEO, SPS Commerce, Inc.

Testimonial

River Cities history and expertise in working with early stage companies proved invaluable in the formative years of PerfectServe. While our strategy shifted to better meet market dynamics, the team at River Cities was always there as a source of encouragement and business development. They made strategic introductions to some of our earliest hospital clients, contributing significantly to our growth. The people at River Cities are creative, constructive and straightforward. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with them as my business partners.

— Terrell Edwards, CEO, PerfectServe, Inc.

Testimonial

River Cities continually challenges us to be our best. Since their investment in Simbionix a little over one year ago, they have consistently articulated wise business sense and counsel, which is highly appreciated. On the one hand, River Cities has challenged management to grow aggressively; while on the other hand they have worked with management to bring a disciplined, level-headed process towards moving the company to the next level. They have consistently demonstrated the right balance of support and trust, without interfering in the management of day-to-day operations. They have shown patience, and a keen over-the-horizon "big picture" strategic view, which transcends tactical issues. When we need River Cities they are always present with concrete and substantive support.

— Gary Zamler, CEO, Simbionix USA Corporation

Testimonial

River Cities has been extremely supportive - not only with their investment, but with their coaching on almost every aspect of our business. Put another way, River Cities Capital Funds represents a tremendous resource that comes in a very user-friendly package.

— Phil Gilmour, CEO, EVault, Inc.

Testimonial

River Cities is the perfect partner for Trax. Their funding, industry knowledge and thought leadership in the world of business-to-business SaaS will help us accelerate our growth and expand our offerings to a broader base of customers.

— Scott Nelson, President & CEO, Trax Technologies

Testimonial

River Cities approached their investment in a way that made you feel like you had another positive resource. It was a true professional partnership with positive support and interaction. At the same time it is all about performance, and River Cities kept keenly aware of our business practices.

— Dennis Stripe, CEO, OrthoHelix

Testimonial

As a major equity sponsor of Health Integrated, River Cities has provided our company with a wealth of resources in critical areas such as resource planning, corporate governance and business strategy. They have consistently honored all their commitments for capital and time, through thick and thin. In fact, I consider them to be a part of my management team.

— Shan Padda, Chairman and CEO, Health Integrated, Inc.

Testimonial

It is very difficult to discover current and insightful best management practices from other technology companies our size. River Cities is very good about gathering and sharing that information in meaningful ways among their portfolio companies.

— Intradiem

Stay Updated

Stay connected by subscribing to our quarterly e-newsletter. Get the latest news and updates sent right to your inbox..

This form needs Javascript to display, which your browser doesn't support. Sign up here instead

ABOUT RIVER CITIES CAPITAL FUNDS

River Cities Capital Funds is one of the most active and experienced growth equity funds in healthcare and information technology. With over $500 million raised to date and more than 100 investments made, we have established ourselves as a preferred partner among the entrepreneurial and private equity communities.